viernes, 19 de junio de 2009

Angel Guillen continues impressive year

Reportaje ESPN sobre Angel Guillen.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/news/story?id=4269208


Angel Guillen continues impressive year

By Andrew Feldman
ESPN.com

For all the "poker isn't a game of skill" naysayers, I'm asking you to simply look at the results from the WSOP this year. We've seen two double-bracelet winners, players who are making multiple final tables and others who continue to make deep runs in every event. Honestly, it's surprising to see so many names repeat themselves given the huge fields, but even more impressive is how players have rebounded after coming close to a bracelet win, how they've battled back for another bracelet bid so quickly after coming so close to WSOP history.


Angel Guillen falls into that last category. After James Van Alstyne won Event 31 under the same situation, it was Guillen's turn to not let a second WSOP final table pass him by this year. Guillen finished second in Event 13 to earn $312,800 and added $530,548 in first-place prize money after winning Event 32 after a six-hour heads-up battle with Mika Paasonen.

While Guillen might not be a familiar name to many, the 26-year-old Mexican professional poker player has left his mark at the felt in 2009. Besides his second-place finish at the WSOP, Guillen has a third-place finish at the Latin American Poker Tour as well as a 17th place at a tournament in Monte Carlo. With his bracelet win, Guillen became the second Mexican to win bracelet in the WSOP's 40-year history.

"I feel very fortunate to have the support of my family, my friends and all the people that supported me," he said after the win.

The $2,000 no-limit hold 'em event attracted 1,534 players, an increase of 14 percent over the field in 2008. While the priority was to earn his first bracelet, Guillen also noted that he'd like to spark a Moneymaker-like poker boom in Mexico.

"The problem in Mexico is that poker is not legal," he said. "So, the growth of poker in our country has been very slow. We are trying to develop that now. We want to make a boom in Mexico. We mostly play online and in underground games -- and sometimes in home games. There are no casinos. That's basically how it works. Hopefully, Mexico will soon export more poker players. … Like Chris Moneymaker did for you [in the U.S.], I want to do the same thing in my country. Hopefully, I can."

Other notable finishers included Peter Feldman (11th), Jan Sorensen (32nd) and Tony Cousineau (55th).

Below are the complete results of Event 32:
Event 32: No-limit hold 'em
Buy-in: $2,000
Entries: 1,534
Prize pool: $2,791,880
Players in the money: 171
1. Angel Guillen ($530,548)
2. Mika Paasonen ($326,203)
3. Jason Boyes ($214,974)
4. Steve Kohner ($150,761)
5. Eric Ladny ($108,883)
6. Daniel Makowsky ($86,548)
7. Christopher MacNeil ($71,192)
8. Antoine Amourette ($61,421)
9. Clark Hamagami ($55,279)
10. David Vu ($38,807)

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